HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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so that, in the future, historians may have clear light about it and
may give in full the necessary information. Peten Ytza is situated in
the middle of a great lake and there are not only this one on which the
King lives, but also four other _Petens_, or islands which also lie in
the said lake. Others say that these _Petens_ are seven in number, and
still others that there are thirty, and that this lake also surrounds
the seven, as some say, as well as the thirty which the others speak
of. What is certain is that I stopped there and asked purposely what
number of people and _Petens_ the Ytzalana nation contained, and they
told me that there were only five _Petens_. The lake which surrounds
them is large, its length I have not measured, nor have I gone over
more than the part of it by which I came, which was three leagues
across, more or less (entering it at the West and going eastward), till
one reaches the _Peten_ on which the King lives. But the length of the
said lake which runs from North to South (as far as we could see it),
although we did not succeed in seeing to its end, was probably from
eight to ten leagues.[2.2] There are some who say that the said lake is